Project Report on Consumer Buying Behavior

By: Nicolaine Adona

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This assignment is concerned about Consumer behavior and Consumer Buying
Process. Throughout the assignment the following points are going to be discussed.
1. The Consumer buying behavior in general with examples.
2. The Importance of Consumer.
3. The Consumer buying process with aid of examples.

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

Definition:
Consumer behavior refers to the mental and emotional process and the observable
behavior of consumers during searching, purchasing and post consumption of a
product or service. Consumer behavior involves study of how people buy, what
they buy, when they buy and why they buy. It blends the elements from
psychology, sociology, sociopsychology, anthropology and economics. It also tries
to assess the influence on the consumer from groups such as family, friends,
reference groups and society in general. Buyer behavior has two aspects: the final
purchase activity visible to any observer and the detailed or short decision process
that may involve the interplay of a number of complex variables not visible to
anyone.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMER

The consumers in the business are very important. Theyre always looking for
satisfaction. Some consumers are always looking for new idea and taste of a
product, second the cleanliness and ambiance of the place and lastly the price and
service. If these factors meet the expectation of consumer, theyll surely accept the
product and service of a business.

FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

Consumer buying behavior is influenced by the major three factors:
1. Social Factors
2. Psychological Factors
3. Personal Factors.

A. Social Factors
Social factors refer to forces that other people exert and which affect consumers
purchase behavior. These social factors can include culture and subculture, roles
and family, social class and reference groups.
Example: By taking into consideration Reference group, these can influence/
affect the consumer buying behavior. Reference group refers to a group with whom
an individual identifies herself/ himself and the extent to which that person
assumes many values, attitudes or behavior of group members. Reference groups
can be family, school or college, work group, club membership, citizenship etc.
Reference groups serve as one of the primary agents of consumer socialization and
learning and can be influential enough to induce not only socially acceptable
consumer behavior but also socially unacceptable and even personal destructive
behavior.

B. Psychological Factors
These are internal to an individual and generate forces within that influence her/his
purchase behavior. The major forces include motives, perception, learning, attitude
and personality.
Example: Attitude, is an enduring organization of motivational, emotional,
perceptual and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of our environment.
Consumer form attitude towards a brand on the basis of their beliefs about the
brand. For example, consumers of Sony products might have the belief that the
products offered by Sony are durable; this will influence those customers to buy
Sony products due to this attitude towards the brand.
C. Personal Factors
These include those aspects that are unique to a person and influence purchase
behavior. These factors include demographic factors, lifestyle, and situational
factors.
Example: Lifestyle is an indicator of how people live and express themselves on
the basis of their activities, interests, and opinions. Lifestyle dimension provide a
broader view of people about how they spend their time the importance of things in
their surroundings and their beliefs on broad issues associated with life and living
and themselves. This is influenced by demographic factors and personality.

CONSUMER BUYING DECISION PROCESS

Definition: Consumer buying decision process is the processes undertaken by
consumer in regard to a potential market transaction before, during and after the
purchase of a product or service.
Problem Recognition
Purchase decision making process begins when a buyer becomes aware of an
unsatisfied need or problem. This is the vital stage in buying decision process,
because without recognizing the need or want, an individual would not seek to buy

goods or service. There are several situations that can cause problem recognition,
these include:
Depletion of stock
Dissatisfaction with goods in stock
Environmental Changes
Change in Financial Situation
Marketer Initiated Activities

Information Search
After the consumer has recognized the need, he / she will trying to find the means
to solve that need. First he will recall how he used to solve such kind of a problem
in the past, this is called nominal decision making. Secondly, a consumer will try to
solve the problem by asking a friend or goes to the market to seek advice for which
product will best serve his need, this is called limited decision making. Sources of
information include:
Personal sources
Commercial Sources
Public sources
Personal experience

Alternatives evaluation
Consumers evaluates criteria refer to various dimension; features, characteristics
and benefits that a consumer desires to solve a certain problem. Product features
and its benefit is what influence consumer to prefer that particular product. The
consumer will decide which product to buy from a set of alternative products
depending on each unique feature that the product offers and the benefit he / she
can get out of that feature.

Purchase Action
This stage involves selection of brand and the retail outlet to purchase such a
product. Retail outlet image and its location are important. Consumer usually
prefers a nearby retail outlet for minor shopping and they can willingly go to a far
away store when they purchase items which are of higher values and which involve
higher sensitive purchase decision. After selecting where to buy and what to buy,
the consumer completes the final step of transaction by either cash or credit.

Post-purchase Actions
Consumer favorable post-purchase evaluation leads to satisfaction. Satisfaction
with the purchase is basically a function of the initial performance level
expectation and perceived performance relative to those expectations. Consumer
tends to evaluate their wisdom on the purchase of that particular product. This can
result to consumer experiencing post purchase dissatisfaction. If the consumers
perceived performance level is below expectation and fail to meet satisfaction this
will eventually cause dissatisfaction, and so the brand and/ or the outlet will not be
considered by the consumer in the future purchases. This might cause the
consumer to initiate complaint behavior and spread negative word-of-mouth
concerning that particular product.